#TakeTheKnee Is Unserious, Immature, Childish Bullshit

I’m an anarchist. Not a particular fan of any state, but I’ll tolerate America more than most, on balance.

Am I a patriot? Well, if that means unequivocal support for elections and the product of them, no I am not. If that means America as an idea and ideal, then I guess I am.

A country, territory, culture, or melange of cultures is not the state—anymore than a map is the territory.

Those who have been around a long time may remember Michael Miles. He used to have a health blog, “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.” He used to comment here. He’s also somewhat politically aligned with me, which is quite something for a black man, and I hate even having to say that. It ought to be completely irrelevant, but it’s just not. So I mention it. Because.

So far from my vantage point the only public/celebrity figure who has gotten it right is football great Jim Brown, certainly an activist of some note over the years.

On the intrawebs Richard Nikoley got it right from the beginning noting the real issue involved.

The NFL got political (why the anthem to begin with and military flybys and other such nonsense at *sporting* events) because it built the brand/bottom line. Now some players are responding politically also. But these things are baked in the cake so to speak with concomitant contractual obligations agreed to freely by all parties involved. There are no slaves in major professional sports. All parties *voluntarily* agree to mutually binding contracts that enrich both parties to the tune of millions and millions of dollars.

Govt, constitutional rights, race and wrapping the issue into respect or disrespect for the flag have nothing to do with it as far as the core issues involved.

Players are free to do what they want (in the NFL. In the NBA players *must* stand for the anthem). Owners are free to respond as they deem reasonable (including not signing a particular player). And everyone else is free to offer their opinion as to the goodness or badness of the behavior of the principals involved and even vote with their dollars by not showing up for games or otherwise supporting the NFL). That is how *employment contracts* work.

For the sake of the rest of us (especially employers), I do hope that never changes because the big stage of football didn’t react the way some people wanted.

TL;DR: You “protest” on your own damn time, not your employer’s or your client’s. If you’re a serious and mature business person, that is, and presumably, million-dollar contracts put you in that category.

It’s really ridiculous that you have a multi-million-dollar contract and you’re going to compromise and tarnish the brand value of your employer/client, and the trade association they are themselves contractually bound to by multi-hundred-million-dollar contracts.

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The NFL has very little to do with football anymore. If you had gone down to Santa Clara you could have seen 49ers for $15. The stadium is just a soundstage for a TV show. They don’t need a few thousand live fans, they need 20 million TV viewers.

The Huff principle is to interview Andy Slavitt, not someone working at HHS.

But Slavitt says plenty. He has the gall to consider the marketing of Obamacare to be one of its BENEFITS. And of course this cost is trivial….though Price whacking $100 million in advertising and exchange advisors doesn’t seem like mere chicken feed…

The real stunner is this

“You need to have your outreach machine working well.”

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I’m pretty much finished with the NFL…..I”ll get my football fix from the alma mater and booing LA college teams (does crimson and gold come to mind?). I might even tire of that as well, since I need to focus on more important priorities in life. Maybe others, whether they realize it or not, may come to similar conclusions and start acting in their true self interests. there are real problems out there…but they Left does not care for them and especially someone who was elected to deal with them. Leftist tantrums disgust me.

I think this is a good trend. Strip away the fluff and pretension, and even the slavish addiction to entertainment, especially from assholes who produce it, who, in general, think that we are morons. I pay attention to what people think of me…but not in the way they would like. but it is cause to reflect on the big picture.

I am going to join the legions….who don’t buy a new iPhone…or any iPhone. It pains to think about how much Google, FB, Amazon…know about me that I don’t even know. they should share my “fair share”….

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I can’t stand pro sports. College too. It’s all click bait trash for the masses and boring as all hell.

Kudos to Trump for starting the fight. There will be no winners here. Plenty of hard core right wingers and feminine left wingers among the sportsfans.

At first I thought the league would lose revenue, but that won’t happen. Not with their tax-based cash flow and millions of loyal dufuses with nothing better to do than stare dutifully, even if thru the TV. So many people are righteously “boycotting” the NFL. It won’t last. They’ll fold like cheap accordions and be gulping down their crack addiction football by the spoonful in just two weeks.

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While I don’t spend too much time watching or keeping up with it, I find college football infinitely more interesting than pro. When the pro teams started to move around in the 80s (when I was a teenager), I started losing interest. I just found out my former favorite team (the Raiders) are in Las Vegas now. Sheesh. At least we’ll never see the Arizona Crimson Tide or Vermont Sooners.

Game attendance revenue is chicken feed to the league, what counts is tv viewership. Those numbers, however, are falling. While it takes a while for the advertising losses to sink in, once they do, the fat tv contracts will go on a diet. The shrinking tv ad contracts will filter down to the owners, who are stuck with player contracts, team and stadium expenses and other overhead. As brain dead as they seem now, by the time they come out of their coma the viewers will have gone on to other entertainments. The NFL is starting to swirl around the drain.

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Tax revenue depends upon game attendance. A few stadiums are privately owned, but the municipal stadiums lose the property tax advantage. When ticket and concessions proceeds drop, the taxes and shared profits will too. Perhaps some of the elected municipal officials will feel the heat for paying for white elephant stadiums. One could hope for it, anyway.

One purpose of starting games with the anthem is to remind everyone playing and watching that we’re really all on the same team and what is about to transpire is just a game. You lose that if you remove the anthem.

The kneelers have destroyed the ritual and the game. Sad. RIP.

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thhq
The NFL is certainly a money making operation and they don’t or can’t…hide that. But how does bad behavior attract what you claim are it’s main customers…..corporate advertisers? Unless of course, they are totally initimidated by the political correctness race wolf callers…or are just voracious consumers of the kool aid.

In the end, you need the shmuck fan and they have to fill those seats. You can’t really have an authentic football game without fans in the seats. Maybe someday that will change….but probably not soon. Being there, with the carnival atmosphere…that used to be family friendly….and doing the game thing, is not even closely approached by TV, and it drives the engine.

Hunger Games made the virtual stadium work.

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The problem is that they don’t need the fans in the seats hap. They need 20 million people to watch the game on TV. That’s where the revenue comes from. Selling Hyundais and Milky Ways and expensive diabetes drugs. The owners share the revenue so the need for playing a competitive game is gone. It’s a minstrel show staged by ESPN et al.

And it’s not just the NFL. I grew up with Pac 8, then Pac 10, football. All the hoopla of a Saturday afternoon, 4 or 5 times a year. But in the last 20 years, TV has taken the NCAA over too. You’re lucky to get one afternoon game a year, and only if your team stinks and TV doesn’t want them. The games have stretched out to 3-4 hours for the commercials. Game starting times are announced only a week ahead of most games. At least a couple midweek games a year. Schedules are padded up with more games than ever before, plus playoffs, plus the 40 odd “bowl” games. No wonder there are so many injuries to these kids.

ABsolutely!! Events at the ancient Coliseum would not have been popular on TV, any more than UFC MMA would be popular (telogenic) if no octagon surrounded by screaming fans calling for blood.

People want freaking spectacle….yes. But they are not real fond of black power salutes, deliberate sullying of traditions /customs, or lifting legs after scoring touchdowns to pee on the grass of the “vanquished”. Remember how all that went down, even at the Mexico Olympics? See much of that today? I wonder what kind of protest action would be going on if there were no Anthem or Flag waving ? Would we have defecation on the field? Exposure of private parts?

I understand that “Darts” is a very popular sport and that 25K people can show up to a dart throwing tournament. Hmmmm Darts and Curling could be my new sporting interests.

There was a MLB game played in an empty stadium in Baltimore 2 years back. I had Extra Innings at the time, and made it a point to tune in. It was really, really odd. Interesting as a one off novelty, but nothing I would watch on a regular basis. After 40 minutes, even the novelty had worn off.

I am realizing that TV addiction is perfectly in line with the braindead dependent shithead model that the left thrives on. If the public won’t show up for its bread and circuses, we’ll deliver them at home.

Corporations are so used to be shaken down by the race card baiters, they respond Pavlovian whenever even the whiff of it is blown around. It’s fucking radioactive for them. But there is a chink in that armor…these days.

In his own particular and many times vulgar way, DT tells it like it is. It’s not Richard Nikoley…but it’s more than one step forward from the ground zero we normally are required to tolerate.

A reasoned debate or “conversation” about legitimate grievances in racial/ethnic issues is not what is wanted…….these protests are direct assaults through USA symbols of national oppression and victimization. All else is commentary despite rational explanations.

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That’s what I love about Trump. He speaks his mind and lets it rip, especially when it is controversial and bombastic.

I love watching people overreact to him even more. People retardedly hold politicians, and especially their president (their king) in some high romantic regard. Trump has no superficial elegance to disguise the ugliness of government. This is causing so many people, namely the left, to freak the fuck out. I am feasting on their tears, laughing my ass off the whole way.

I really do hate the situation blacks are in, which traces back to slavery. That is no shit. But unlike the endless legions of fucktards across the western world, I know that a forced culture of acceptance and reparations will accomplish the exact opposite of the harmony they envision. Constant race baiting, righteous race card enabling, affirmative action, welfare/snap/medicaid and all the rest give blacks no pride whatsoever, and embitter innocent whites who get sick of being guilt tripped over injustices committed decades ago.

The only solution is anarchy. Make the god damn government go away, and people will quit bickering over stupid bullshit. But we’re not there as a society by a long shot. So the strife will continue.

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I'm Richard Nikoley. Free the Animal began in 2003, and as of 2017, contains over 4,500 posts and 100,000 comments from readers. I cover a lot of ground, blogging what I wish...from health, diet, and lifestyle to philosophy, politics, social issues, and cryptocurrency. I celebrate the audacity and hubris to live by your own exclusive authority and take your own chances in life. [Read more...]

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